This Week You Will Get Support From:

• anime fights
• slow cinema
• retired superspies
• fantasy galore
• career changes

Thanks to scb0212 for contributing this week. Send articles throughout the next week to ploughmanplods[at]gmail, post articles from the past week below for discussion, and Have a Happy Friday!

Polygon‘s Toussaint Egan interviews Michael B. Jordan, director and finds himself talking to Michael B. Jordan, massive anime fan:

I mean, I watch anime every day. It’s like these images are burned into my head. So when I was in pre-production and putting together the fight choreography, it was just second nature to me to reach for that. […] [Ed and Alphonse from] Fullmetal Alchemist was definitely one. Goku and Vegeta [from Dragon Ball Z], Bakugo and Midoriya from My Hero Academia. Those are just a few. When you’re watching anime, there’s all these similar tones, themes, and feelings between them all that in a sense boil down to when a hero is challenged, and they usually have a best friend or rival that’s the one challenging them in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of different ways anime iterates on these themes and feelings. So for me, tapping into that was just a part of me.

Danny Baldwin finds hope in a young-skewing audience for a screening of Memoria:

Never underestimate the power of counter-cultural trends and the degree to which young adults – particularly those with creative minds – crave them, even if they’re actually recycled. Perhaps the way theatrical movies become cool again is precisely by leaning into the ways in which they differ from “content.” In a world where younger consumers feel bombarded by a never-ending stream of inputs in their digital lives, perhaps the reprieve they are looking for is actually a slower pace. While I don’t want to overstate how “mainstream” a very demanding film like Memoria can become, I do think there’s something to be gleaned from the idea of today’s younger generation being drawn to a work that requires such patience. Maybe it’s one of the few places they actually can escape the ADHD-inducing push notifications of pop culture and social media. Maybe the comparatively slow pace of cinema offers a potential reprieve. Which is to say, maybe filmmakers and studios should consider whether the way to capture a younger audience is not to try to replicate or impersonate the content they get at home and on-the-go, but to offer them something they can’t see on their own devices. Something that is, in fact, even cooler.

Familiar face C.M. Crockford talks the easy-going Pierce Brosnan found in 2001’s The Tailor of Panama:

It’s hard, after all, to play an iconic role and not have that character overshadow everything else. Sherlock Holmes actor Jeremy Brett supposedly screamed “Damn you, Holmes!” while spending time in a psych ward. Sean Connery can win an Oscar for The Untouchables, but Sick Boy in Trainspotting rightly calls this out as a “sympathy vote”. Brosnan however did find a way. His anti-hero role in Panama gleefully subverts his own famous secret agent character in every way possible – the result is one of his best performances.

As Warner Brothers purchases the lucrative rights to Middle Earth, Daniel Roman opines about four book series adaptations preferable to more Lord of the Rings movies:

Another fantastic series which deserves the big (or small) screen treatment is Fonda Lee’s The Green Bone Saga. Try to imagine a combination of the crime family drama from The Godfather or Yakuza with crazy martial arts action, a great magic system, global politics, and a sweeping scale that spans decades, and you have a decent idea of what you’re walking into with this one. Comparing this to something like The Lord of the Rings is difficult because it’s so different, but isn’t that kind of the point? Give us something new, Hollywood! The Green Bone Saga would be a perfect fit for a network like HBO, owing to its bloody twists, complex characters, and adult themes.

WBUR Boston’s Jack Lepiarz is running away to join the circus:

For me, the circus has always been an intrinsic part of my identity. Simply put, it’s who I am. And onstage has always been where I’ve felt the most free. Some people get nervous before they go onstage, but by assuming the character of Jacques ze Whipper and drawing on a stupid mustache, all my social anxiety disappears. To paraphrase one of my closest former coworkers, who knew me for years before seeing me onstage — it puts me in my element.